Brown had dropped back-to-back decisions to Diego Nunes
and Rani
Yahya during a three-week span in January 2011. Going into his
August 2011 bout against Nam Phan, he
felt his legacy was on the line.

“I thought I don’t want to be totally destroying what I’ve done by
going out on such a bad note,” Brown said. “I had a rough streak,
and if I didn’t pull myself out of it, I would want to go out on my
own. I don’t want to be a loser in the sport.”

Brown beat Phan and also outpointed Daniel
Pineda in May 2012. Now, after a second neck surgery, he’s
finally healthy again heading into his matchup against Siler. He’s
been training for his lanky opponent with similarly built teammate
Cole
Miller, who lost a decision to Siler in March 2012. Miller,
meanwhile, is scheduled to meet former Brown opponent Manny
Gamburyan on the same card.

“Siler’s tall and so is Cole, so I’ve been sparring with him a lot,
and I’m short and compact like Manny is, so we’ve actually been
great training partners,” Brown said. “Of course [Miller] told me
what he thought of the fight. Hopefully we can both get some
redemption for each other. That’s the game plan.”

Siler has impressed Brown with his 4-1 record in the UFC, but Brown
likes the matchup.

“He might be the tallest guy I’ve fought, but typically in
training, I train really well against those guys,” Brown said. “I
think he’s very susceptible to a few things that I like to do.”

In particular, Brown sees himself as the more powerful puncher.
He’ll have to work inside Siler’s reach advantage to land, but if
he does connect, he expects his opponent to drop. A knockout would
Mark Brown’s
first in the UFC.

“I still throw hard,” he said. “That’s my game. I think I’m the
bigger puncher for sure. Sometimes it’s a little bit of luck. In
the UFC I haven’t landed my shot yet. If I land one solid, then
he’ll go down.”